Despite hurdles, Chartiers Valley track teams finding ways to improve

By: Ted Sarneso
Sunday, April 20, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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It’s been a challenging season for the Chartiers Valley track and field teams.

Like all the other schools in the WPIAL, they have had to deal with the tumultuous early spring weather.

“It’s been cold and rainy, and that has had a small effect on how our athletes perform,” said coach Lori Poe. “But everyone else has to deal with it. We’ll all just pray for better weather later in the season.”

What most of the other schools haven’t had to deal with is the lack of a track.

For just over two years, the Colts’ football field and track have been under construction. The school was hoping to start construction of the track at the beginning of April and have it completed by Easter.

Due to the weather, however, construction has been delayed until the middle of the month, but there are hopes that it could be finished before the end of the track season.

“We were hoping to have a few meets here at the end of the month,” said Poe. “But because they need 15 straight days of dry weather to work with the concrete, they’ve delayed the construction. Still hoping the weather breaks and we can have a track for the last part of the season.”

So, how have the athletes been practicing if there isn’t a track? The answer is a lot of creativity.

“The sprinters do a lot of their work on the football turf and distance runners will run around the school or wherever they can,” Poe said. “Jumping coaches will do work in the gym with mats. We’ll go to the local track to train, and we’ve utilized the weight room a lot.”

Poe and her coaching staff have learned to adapt since the covid pandemic, when they had to find ways to get their athletes to train without much contact. They’ve adapted those methods to deal with the lack of a track.

“We also have pool workouts twice a week, and it’s a way for runners and pole vaulters to take stress off their legs,” Poe continued. “The vaulters will also use the pool to simulate being up in the air and turning their bodies.”

Although it isn’t ideal, and Poe would love to be out on the track, the results her athletes are posting are a testament to the hard work and dedication by everyone involved with Chartiers Valley track and field.

The biggest improvements have come with the girls team, which finished last season 1-5 and sixth in Section 7-3A. This year, they finished 4-2 in section and placed third.

“All of my senior and junior girls have put in the work in the offseason since their freshman and sophomore years, and it’s great to see their hard work paying off,” Poe said.

In the team’s final section meet at South Fayette on April 7, numerous girls finished in the top 10 in their events.

On the track, seniors Shyann Moore and Hevin Harvard finished third and fourth respectively in the 100 hurdles. Moore posted a time of 17.68 and Harvard a time of 17.75.

“Both those girls do club track in the summer,” said Poe. “When they were younger hurdlers, they were scared about how to do it, but now they’re teaching the younger athletes what to do, and it’s great to see and a huge help for us coaches.”

Moore (55.31) and Harvard (55.35) also finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 300 hurdles.

The girls three relay teams each had top-five finishes. The 3,200 relay finished fourth with a time of 10:26.03 and the 1,600 was second with a time of 4:20.90.

The 400 was run by Harvard, junior Cheyenne Jones, and sophomores Brooklyn Horr and Jasmin Lewis. They finished first with a time of 50.56.

“That 4-by-100 team has a solid time, and it’s now about keeping everybody healthy,” Poe said. “One small mistake at WPIALs and they’re out, that’s how tough it is. If they keep running well, they can be a top-eight team at WPIALs and hopefully vie for a spot in states.”

The relay team then went on to finish fifth at the TCTSAs with a time of 51.67.

At the South Fayette meet, Lewis placed sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.13, and Jones was 10th in the 400 meters with a time of 1:06.07.

The Colts got another first-place finish, this time in the field, as junior Lily Carlson threw the discus 95 feet, 10 inches and was also fourth in javelin with a distance of 92 feet, 8 inches.

“Last year, she was having better throws in javelin and was doing well with discus, but this year it’s the complete opposite,” Poe explained. “Weather has played a part in her slow javelin progress. But she’s PR’d multiple times in the discus this year.”

Senior Lily Nixon has been consistently clearing 5 feet, 1 inch this year in the high jump, a height she was nearing toward the end of last year. She placed fourth at the South Fayette meet.

Fellow senior Olivia Tokar cleared 9 feet in the pole vault and finished third.

“Olivia finished last year clearing 9-3 and can get to 9-7 and higher,” said Poe. “She hit 10-9 at indoor this year, so we know there’s more to come from her and hopefully as the weather warms, we’ll see her get there.”

As the girls have enjoyed a turnaround season, the boys finished with the same section record they did last year (2-4) and once again finished in fifth place. But there were still a lot of great things happening for individual athletes.

Senior pole vaulter Domi Crowley placed first at South Fayette with a vault of 14 feet and had a 18 foot, 9.75-inch-long jump that saw him place seventh.

“Domi’s last vault last year was a 14-3 and he’s been clearing 14-6 consistently throughout the year,” said Poe. “He wasn’t 100 percent, and we rested him for the TCTSAs, so he’ll be well rested for the final part of the year as he looks to go back to WPIALs and states.”

Senior Charlie Weagraff is also looking to make it back to WPIALs this year. He finished 18th last year in javelin as his distance hovered around 146 feet. This year, he has improved his distance to near 160, and his best toss was 158 feet, 5 inches.

Senior distance runner Brady Laughlin placed ninth in the mile with a time of 4:49.10, but it’s his work in the 2-mile that has caught Poe’s attention.

“He’s dropped a lot of time from last year to this year,” Poe said. “He’s around 10:50 right now, and we’re looking for him to break 10 minutes.”

At South Fayette, Laughlin ran 2-mile of 10:43.73 and finished seventh.

Senior Nick Nadolny, who was a WPIAL finalist in the 400 meters, finished eighth at South Fayette with a time of 54.61.

In the 110 hurdles, the Colts had a trio of runners perform very well. Senior Tristian Mulligan placed fourth with a time of 16.55, junior Liam Gallocher ran an 18.07 and was fifth, and sophomore Najeh Wrobleski was sixth with a time of 18.36.

Senior Tayshaun Lewis, Jasmin’s brother, has also shown improvement this year. He finished fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.49 and jumped 19 feet, 2.75 inches in the long jump and placed fifth. He was the only boy to place in the top 10 at the TCTSAs with an 11.64 in the 100-meter dash, good for seventh.

The South Fayette meet was the last meet in section competition for the Colts, and they don’t have another competition until an invitational back at South Fayette. It will be their first competitive action since April 12.

“The break is nice for those athletes that need a break,” said Poe. “It doesn’t help the younger kids who need the reps, and it really doesn’t help those hurdlers who need actual races. You can practice over and over and do drills, but you can’t simulate a race.”

The younger kids will get more reps in a few JV meets while the older kids looking to make it WPIALs will have more opportunities to better their times and distances as they prepare for the individual competition.

“We have two invitationals, one at South Fayette and Baldwin at the end of the month,” said Poe. “Our hope is to get all those girls relays to WPIALs and we want a lot of individuals to make it. Those who qualified last year know what they need to do to qualify again this year.”

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